"What's wrong?"
After the Dread Lord whispered something into the Wither King's ear, the latter flew toward the southern forest.
...
The guild outpost below the small hill belonged to the Dragon Mark Guild.
At this moment, the Dragon Mark Guild players standing guard on the grasslands saw a mass of monsters approaching.
Just as they were about to inform the guild players, they noticed the group of monsters suddenly stopped.
The Dragon Mark Guild players on guard were a bit baffled.
"What's going on? Why did they stop?"
"No idea. Looks like that seaweed skeleton found something?"
"Huh?! Look, that winged one is flying toward the southern forest!"
"..."
———
Null had been searching for that ancient aura.
Recently, that aura had become stronger and denser. It didn't take long for Null to locate its source.
When Null saw that the source of the aura was actually a seaweed skeleton, he found it laughable.
The person who shared the same power source as him turned out to be a seaweed skeleton.
While Null was deep in thought, he was suddenly grabbed from behind by a pair of large hands.
Before Null could react, the next moment, the one holding him flew out of the forest, taking him directly to the Dread Lord.
It was only then that Null realized he had been discovered.
This was because Null had grown used to dealing with Entity 303.
Admittedly, Entity 303 was far too easy to track.
Even when Null was extremely close, Entity 303 wouldn't notice.
This gave Null the false impression that others would be just as oblivious, leading to his slip-up.
———
The sudden incident was witnessed by the Dragon Mark Guild players hiding on the grasslands.
Seeing Null's appearance left them stunned.
"Wh-what is that?!?!"
"This monster... Never seen it before?"
"Those eyes! They're exactly like HIM's! Could it be another one of HIM's underlings?"
"Isn't that seaweed skeleton one of HIM's underlings? That dark creature and the seaweed skeleton look like enemies though?"
"No idea... Looks like a fight's about to start? Better start streaming first!"
"..."
The Dragon Mark Guild players knew how to capitalize on the moment.
What players loved watching most were monster battles.
Within five minutes of starting their stream, their channel was pinned to the top.
Soon, a flood of players joined the stream.
"Damn! That dark monster looks badass! Reminds me of HIM!"
"Kind of confusing—what's the deal with all these monsters?"
"Are they about to fight? Who do you think will win?"
"I bet on the dark one. Just based on appearance, it's leagues above the seaweed skeleton!"
"Honestly, all these monsters look pretty cool—White-eyed HIM, Death Knight, Red-eyed Entity 303, White-eyed Dark Monster, and even that winged one is cool. But the seaweed skeleton is the weak link..."
"Even if the seaweed skeleton looks lame, I've heard it's supposedly super strong—on par with HIM?"
"Seriously?! That strong?!"
"..."
The players in the stream engaged in heated discussions.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere on the grasslands was growing increasingly tense.
Null sized up the Dread Lord, his face full of disdain.
Though Null could sense that the Dread Lord's strength surpassed his own at the moment, he attributed it to the aura of the Void aiding the demon king.
If the Void's power were stripped away, Null believed that the Dread Lord's fear energy would not measure up to his own.
Null scoffed coldly, "Hmph, trash."
Null naturally looked down on the Dread Lord. In his view, relying on external power to obtain fear energy was nothing but a degrading act.
Hearing Null's words, the Dread Lord did not react angrily.
He, too, looked down on Null.
Though he sensed Null's strength was inferior to his, he couldn't help but be intrigued by one thing.
A large portion of the fear energy in both their bodies was strikingly similar.
This was undoubtedly odd.
Fear, while a single term, was incredibly complex in how it formed.
For example, some people fear chickens, others fear fish, while some fear ghosts.
These are all forms of fear.
Both the Dread Lord and Null could absorb such fear, but the aura of each fear source was distinct.
Yet now, a significant portion of the fear energy in their bodies was identical.
Moreover, the aura in Null's body was remarkably similar to that of the person the Dread Lord was tasked with killing.
"Who are you?"
The Dread Lord was on a mission.
When he received his orders, his consciousness was released from the Void.
Upon entering the Void, remnants of his target's aura were still present.
Thus, the Dread Lord had to track his target using this aura.
He didn't know what his target looked like or their name, relying solely on the aura they emitted.
Now, the aura from Null matched the remnants in the Void almost perfectly.
But what puzzled the Dread Lord was this. While Null's aura was identical to the remnants, the Void aura was more complex.
In short, Null's aura was only part of the whole.
This made the Dread Lord uncertain if Null was his target or if there were multiple targets.
When Null noticed the Dread Lord's scrutiny, he was instantly enraged.
Before they met, Null already disliked the Dread Lord. Now, seeing him in person only fueled that hatred.
Even though Null could sense his power was inferior, he couldn't hold back his temper.
Null immediately used Soul of Fear on the Dread Lord.
The moment he activated the skill, images from the Dread Lord's mind appeared in Null's head.
Strangely, the images were split into two sections.
One section had more images, the other fewer.
In the larger section, Null saw the destruction of the Nether.
He saw a blurry figure wearing a blue cloak.
He also saw several indistinct color blocks—red, orange, yellow, green, and blue.
The smaller section contained only one image.
It was blurry, but Null could discern a person with glowing eyes, just like his own and HIM's.
"My king?..."
The figure's form was similar to HIM's, yet somehow different.
That subtle difference confused Null.
Seeing someone so much like HIM reminded Null of HIM's warning, when encountering the ancient aura, don't act rashly—report back immediately.
Recalling this, Null suppressed his anger.
"Lucky you!"
With that, Null teleported away.
This sudden retreat caught both the Dread Lord and Wither King off guard.
In their long lives, they had never encountered anyone like Null.
In their worldview, once a confrontation began, no matter the power disparity, a battle was inevitable.
They hadn't expected Null to flee without a fight.
And to top it off, he left with a parting remark: "Lucky you."
The Dread Lord and Wither King could only marvel at this peculiar display.
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